Development of a portable reference aerosol generator (PRAG) for calibration of particle mass concentration measurements--颗粒学报PARTICUOLOGY

Gaie-Levrel, F., Bourrous, S., & Macé, T. (2018). Development of a portable reference aerosol generator (PRAG) for calibration of particle mass concentration measurements. Particuology, 37, 134-142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2017.06.005

Development of a portable reference aerosol generator (PRAG) for calibration of particle mass concentration measurements

François Gaie-Levrel ^*, Soleiman Bourrous ¹, Tatiana Macé

Laboratoire national de métrologie et d’essais (LNE), Chemistry and Biology Division, Gas and Aerosol Metrology Department, 1 Rue Gaston Boissier, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France

10.1016/j.partic.2017.06.005

Volume 37, April 2018, Pages 134-142

Received 10 January 2017, Revised 8 June 2017, Accepted 21 June 2017, Available online 16 October 2017, Version of Record 3 February 2018.

E-mail: francois.gaie-levrel@lne.fr

Highlights

• TEOM instruments currently used pre-weighted filters as calibration weight.

• Calibration weights are not representative of atmospheric particle mass measurements.

• Calibration weights overlook technical problems in sampling and microbalance filtration systems.

• It is necessary to establish a PM standard for such particle mass concentration instruments.

Abstract

The tapered element oscillating microbalance with filter dynamics measurement system (TEOM-FDMS) is an instrument commonly employed by the French air quality monitoring network. This instrument is currently calibrated with calibration weights traceable to SI but having value and mass differences between each of them that are not representative of real atmospheric particle mass measurements. Moreover, these calibration weights do not allow detection of any technical problems associated with either the TEOM-FDMS sampling system upstream of the mass measurement or the intrinsic TEOM-FDMS filtration system. Therefore, a calibration method was developed using a portable reference aerosol generator (PRAG) that produces known and stable particle mass concentrations over time. Here, we present the characterization of the PRAG system in terms of a reference range of particle masses between 30 ± 10 and 3456 ± 83 μg at three sampling times. Its coupling with the TEOM-FDMS and a global comparison between the defined reference range of particle masses and the measured masses obtained with each TEOM-FDMS implicated in this study are also presented.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Aerosol; Generator; Mass concentration; Particulate mass; Calibration; TEOM-FDMS

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